A server type speech recognition technology utilizing so-called cloud computing is known (for example, refer to JP-A-2012-256001). In this kind of server type speech recognition technology, a user's speech command inputted into a terminal device is analyzed by a remote speech recognition server, and the terminal device carries out a reply operation in accordance with an analysis result received from the speech recognition server.
In JP-A-2012-256001, when a speech recognition device requests a speech recognition server to analyze a speech command, the speech recognition device cancels waiting for receipt of the analysis result when determining that the communication status within the wait time is not good. In this case, this is notified to the user.
The inventors of the present application found out the following difficulty concerning a server type speech recognition technology.
In the existing server type speech recognition, a certain amount of time may be needed from when the user speaks a speech command to when the user receives a response. Causes of this include a delay time in the communication between the terminal device and the speech recognition server, processing time in the speech recognition server etc. When there is a time lag between the user speaking and the response, the user may feel uneasy due to not knowing whether or not the speech command has been received, and may repeat the speech command, even though communication with the speech recognition server and the analysis process are being carried out normally. Because of this, there is concern that the user will feel that usability is poor.
In the technology described in JP-A-2012-256001, no notification is made to the user unless the wait time elapses (time out) or it is determined that the communication status is not good, and until then, it is unknown to the user whether the speech command has been received.